There are several enormous tournaments held every single week online. The flagship is the PokerStars Sunday Million, which regularly attracts thousands of the top online poker players to the site, as well as a healthy number of amateurs looking to strike it rich. However, when you’re dealing with tournament fields that are extremely large, whether they are held online or offline, it’s important to follow several guidelines in order to be victorious.

1. Play tight. This is rule number one of major tournament strategy. When you first sit down, don’t try to run over the table. It can be daunting to realize that, in order to win, you’re going to have to do muscle through a field of 8,000 players. However, big tournaments like the Sunday Million and World Series of Poker Main Events are a marathon, not a sprint. In order to win this marathon, playing tight is the optimal strategy you can employ. Of course, take advantage of position when you’re able to, but overall, stick to your cards and play tight in the beginning. As the tournament progresses and you become more familiar with your table mates, you can open up your game.
2. Play to Win. A famous football coach once said, “We play to win the game.” It’s the same in poker. Play major tournaments to win. Although cashing may seem like a fine option as well, it’s important to try to win major tournaments. After all, Jamie Gold won $12 million for taking down the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Don’t play major tournaments if you’re only goal is to finish in the money. You will lack the killer instinct that’s necessary to maneuver through thousands of people. Instead, focus on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
3. It’s Not About the Benjamins. Some of the most successful online and live poker players I know don’t even look at the tournament lobby to see the payouts in large tournaments. Instead, they focus on playing. The only number they know is how many players finish in the money so that they can outwit their opponents on the money bubble. Although it may seem a bit counter-intuitive, don’t pay attention to how much money is on the line. Instead, focus on playing sound, tight poker.
4. To Chop or Not to Chop? That is the question. In many major tournaments, both live and online, you’ll see players making deals to chop the prize pool, whether it is three-handed, four-handed, or heads-up. It happens all of the time and is something that you may be faced with in a major tournament. When you get to that point, make sure you accept a fair chop if you choose to do so. The fairest way is to divide the prize pool proportionate to the number of chips in each player’s stack. In the 2003 WSOP Main Event, Chris Moneymaker was ahead in chips by a 3:1 margin. His opponent heads up, Sam Farha, offered a chop in which Moneymaker would get a smaller payday. Be fair when you chop. It often takes unanimous consent by all players involved to chop, so if you’re not happy with the arrangement, keep playing.
5. Take Advantage of the Money Bubble. You’ll see many top-caliber poker players becoming very active around the money bubble. While most amateurs are just trying to cash in large tournaments, professionals are busy trying to accumulate chips. The money bubble is one point during the tournament when you can successfully take advantage of other players’ reluctance to push all of their chips into the middle. The only trick is to make sure that you target the right players. They’ll be the ones folding every hand.

If you stick to these five principles, you will be a force to be reckoned with at major tournaments such as the Sunday Million on PokerStars and the WSOP Main Event.